outliers test

ch. 1 section 5- the matthew effect

"for unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. but from that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." those who are successful are most likely to be given special opportunities that create further success (accumulative advantage) groups can be separated into people born at different months of the year, so that more individuals have the chance to achieve success, but society continues to believe that individual merit plays a larger role in success than society's rules

ch. 8 section 5

A math professor at Berkeley named Alan Schoenfeld made videotapes of students solving for the equation of a line parallel to the y-axis. One woman, Renee, took 22 minutes to play with the algebra software and resolve her "glorious misconception".

ch. 5 section 11 - Farkas's Descendant Study

In 1982, Louise Farkas, a sociology graduate student, studied the descendants of people like the Borgenichts—Jewish immigrants at the turn of the century. Many of her family trees show a garment maker in the first generation, garment makers in the second, and doctors/lawyers in the third. Many successful people, such as Friedman, Flom, Oppenheimer, and Garfinkel (Flom's coworker), and many of the Borgenichts' children/grandchildren (who were doctors/lawyers) had parents who made garments.

ch. 4 section 4 - Oppenheimer vs. Langan: Class Differences

Oppenheimer was raised in a wealthy family in Manhattan, was involved in many activities, and even spoke at the New York Mineralogical Club, so he wouldn't be intimidated by his college experience. On the other hand, Langan, who grew up poor and with an abusive stepfather, grew to distrust authority and be independent. His brother says that if Langan had been born into a wealthy family and learned to value educaiton, he would have made it big.

inductive pattern outline

similar to scientific method: ask question/make hypothesis, test question/hypothesis w/ data, then draw conclusion (thesis) 1. introduction describes topic, providing background info and offering a question/hypothesis 2. examples are analyzed and inferences are drawn 3. conclusion ends topic, providing thesis and discussing implications

ch. 1 section 2- why are successful individuals successful?

successful people are the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and opportunities that allow them to learn and work in ways others cannot; just like the tallest trees were able to receive nutrients and avoid being chopped down, successful people are a product of the environment they were put in

ch. 3 section 5

the majority of the Termites had average careers and incomes, disproving Terman's hypothesis of the correlation of intellect and achievement Terman's error was using intelligence alone to choose his Termites. While some of the Termites had successful careers, an unexpectedly high went on to careers that even Terman didn't consider to be successful. The two students tested by Terman's team who actually did go on to win Nobels were not selected as Termites: their IQs were too low. Terman eventually concluded that "intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated." Gladwell states that to understand Chris Langan's prospects of becoming a "true outlier," one must learn more about him.

ch. 2 section 2

A study done at Berlin's elite Academy of Music divided the school's violinists into three groups by talent. The elite performers had totaled 10,000hrs, the merely good ones totaled 8,000hrs, and the future music teachers had totaled 4,000. The same pattern appeared for pianists, with no musicians floating effortlessly to the top without practicing or practicing excessively without success. This law is the same for other fields like composers, basketball players, writers, ice skaters, chess players, criminals etc. - even Mozart, who didn't compose his first masterwork until 21. The amount of time it takes to put in 10,000hrs is about 10 years. The pattern is also the same for the hockey players in chapter 1- they were given opportunities to get more hours in. However, to reach this number of hours, you may have to have supportive parents, financial stability, and a special program.

ch. 5 section 12 - Founders of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Law Firm

According to Gladwell, a Jewish lawyer in New York would ideally be born in 1930, to parents who did meaningful work. The greatest rival to Joe Flom's firm, the firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, is one of the finest in the world. No firm of its size has made more money over the past two decades. The four founding members were Herbert Wachtell, born in 1931 to a Jewish immigrant clothing worker; Martin Lipton, born in 1931 to a Jewish immigrant factory manager; Leonard Rosen, born in 1930 to Jewish immigrants who worked in the garment district; and George Katz, born in 1931 to Jewish immigrants whose parents were in the garment trade. Instead of obstacles, the culture and generation of these men were opportunities.

ch. 9 section 5

Marita, a KIPP student, wakes up at 5:45 a.m. and gets home after 5:30 p.m. She does homework until 9 or 10 p.m., stopping only to eat dinner. If she stays up later than 11, she has difficulty staying awake in class. Her school and sleep schedule is standard for KIPP's middle school students.

-- chapter 2: the 10,000 hour rule --

All great success stories have similarities, and one of them is that successful individuals spend a lot of time practicing and working on their craft. In fact, Gladwell cites studies and sociologists who claim that for an individual to become an expert in any skill, they need to spend about 10,000 hours practicing or working on it. Overwhelmingly, statistics show that all successful people in their fields had at least 10,000 hours of experience before they made it big. Gladwell makes the point that to get 10,000 hours of practice, which usually takes a decade, you need a lot of luck and extraordinary circumstances. Bill Joy, a renowned computer programmer and pioneer for Internet technology, worked at the University of Michigan, which was one of the few places in the country at the time that was equipped with a computer lab that was capable of time sharing, an invention that allowed programming to go much faster. Additionally, Joy found a way to log hours in the lab for free. From then on, he was hooked and able to accomplish his 10,000 hours, an opportunity most people would not have had. Gladwell describes the same phenomenon occurring with Bill Gates—a series of fortunate, very lucky events allowed Gates to gain 10,000 hours of practice at a very young age. Gladwell also describes The Beatles, who got a lucky break and were invited to play in Hamburg, where they spent seven days a week playing for 8 hours or more a day. It was through that experience that they gained the time needed to become a great band. Gladwell also covers how combining skills with a certain period in history enables many to succeed. For example, most of the wealthiest Americans throughout history were born within the same time frame in the late 1800s, which allowed them to take advantage of the Industrial Revolution. Gladwell's assertion is that most people do not have the fortunate or lucky circumstances that allow them to pursue their passions in such dedicated time blocks. Many successful people share the similar story that because of circumstances, luck, and chance, they were able to spend time doing what they loved doing most, and that aided their ability to succeed.

ch. 5 section 2 - Joe Flom had Opportunities, Too

Although Joe Flom looks like he made it big through ability and hustling, he is, just like the other individuals discussed in the book, a product of his upbringing and environment. Gladwell states he will discuss influential people in Flom's life in order to discover where he obtained his opportunities. Surprisingly, many of his disadvantages, including being a poor child of garment workers, being Jewish, and growing up in the Depression, turned out to be advantages.

ch. 6 section 4 - Conclusions of the Hallway Study

Although the students in the study did not live a herdsman lifestyle and were not children of herdsmen, they acted just like their ancestors. Cultural legacies are passed down, much like accents, even after environments that produced them have long been left behind. If upbringing and opportunities shape one's success, then the traditions and attitudes one inherits also play a role.

ch. 7 section 8 - Klotz's Lack of Urgency 2

As Avianca flight 052 turns away from the airport to try another pass, the captain asks the copilot if he has informed ATC of their emergency. The copilot mitigates, again stating that they're running out of fuel without using the word emergency. When ATC tells them to turn back, they specifically ask if the plane is "okay" with fuel, to which the copilot responds, "I guess so." Minutes later, the engines fail and the plane crashes.

ch. 7 section 14 - Last Minutes of Avianca

As the VOR beacon leads Flight 801 into the side of Nimitz Hill, the Ground Proximity Warning System alerts the crew that they are dangerously close to the ground. The crew is confused, having forgotten that the beacon is not by the runway. The copilot directly recommends a "missed approach." The flight engineer says, "Go around." The Proximity Warning System counts down the distance to the ground until impact. The crash investigation determined that the copilot probably could have saved the plane, if he had pulled the plane up when he first suggested a missed approach.

ch. 7 section 12 - Korean Air Misconmunication

At the time, in South Korean flight crew culture, the pilot was in complete command and everyone else was highly deferential. Junior officers might buy the captain gifts, and it would not be unheard of for a captain to physically strike a subordinate for a mistake. In the Flight 801 transcript of the Guam approach, after the pilot says he is tired, the copilot remarks on the heavy rainfall in the region. He is trying, in the most deferential way possible, to draw attention to the bad weather and the difficulties of a visual approach with no backup plan. When Guam comes in sight, the flight engineer says that the weather radar has been very helpful, but he is trying to point out that the weather radar shows trouble ahead. Western communication is "transmitter oriented": the speaker must make sure that the message is understood, repeating as necessary. Given Korea's high-PDI, "receiver-oriented" communication culture (listener has to make sense of what's being said), the co-pilot and flight engineer of Flight 801 would expect the captain to bring up any lack of understanding, but he is too exhausted to pay close attention. High PDI is suitable for a civilized, slow conversation, but not in the cockpit.

ch. 5 section 7 - Mort Janklow and Ted Friedman's Demographical Advantages

Because of the demographic trough created by the Great Depression in the 1930s (less babies born), Mort Janklow's generation was smaller, and so he had smaller class sizes in school, less competition for university, and a higher demand for goods and services after graduation. This is similar to the 1955 software programmers and 1835 entrepreneurs. Because Mort, unlike Maurice, went to an undercrowded public school, had his pick of the best colleges, and had other generational opportunities, his career prospered more. Janklow expressed his mother's generation's difficulties, including the 1918 flu epidemic, the Great Depression, and World War II. Friedman was another Jewish top litigator in the 1970s, and he paid his way through university ($450) solely by hitchhiking to (with saved money) and working jobs such as waiting tables and working in factories and construction, of which all fields were looking for people to feed the needs of the next big generation.

ch. 2 section 1

Bill Joy attended the University of Michigan thinking he would become a biologist or mathematician, but he fell in love with coding at the computer center that opened during his freshman year. He went on to write UNIX (AT&T's mainframe computer software), founded Sun Microsystems, and rewrote Java.

ch. 2 section 3

Bill Joy showed intelligence from a young age, but his opportunities largely contributed to his success. In the 1970s, computers were rare, renting one was costly, and programming (cardboard punch cards) was tedious (one person at a time). However, the University of Michigan had switched to the time-sharing system (multiple people at a time), and a bug in the software + the computer center being kept open 24hrs allowed Bill Joy to code for as long as he liked. He was also able to program at Berkeley, and these two universities helped him obtain 10,000hrs.

ch. 8 section 1

China's cities have industrialized quickly, but the countryside has many small towns with open-air markets that have rice, among other products. Rice has been grown in China for thousands of years and is part of its cultural legacy, even though building a rice patty is demanding and labor-intensive. It requires a complex irrigation system, a specific clay/soil floor, and repeated fertilization. Seedlings would be grown and transplanted, weeding would be hand-done, water temperature would be constantly checked. This was also work that many lives depended on. In southern Chinese villages, rice is a crucial facet of society.

ch. 3 section 1

Chris Langan appeared on the television trivia show 1 vs. 100 after being the subject of interviews and at least one documentary, due to his extremely high IQ. He had little difficulty in high school (could retain a year's information in days), got a perfect score on his SAT, and read through Principia Mathematica as a teenager. Langan said before the show that his IQ may hinder his chances of winning, due to the specialized thinking it induces. On 1 vs. 100, Langan cashed out with winnings of $250,000.

ch. 2 section 6 - Langan's Life Today

Chris Langan lives on a horse farm in Missouri, where he still writes. He is happily married and continues to read physics and philosophy. He expresses that he doesn't think anyone is smarter than him or has better comprehension skills. While he has spent decades on his writing, almost none of it has ever been published. Langan admits he has not tried to contact publishers or found an agent—and does not plan to. Chris Langan did not have the support necessary to develop a sense of entitlement and meet success. Gladwell points that no one ever makes it alone, regardless of if they are successful musicians, athletes, tech billionaires, or geniuses.

Joyce Gladwell (epilogue)

Definition: Malcolm Gladwell's mother, who was able to obtain a good education due to timely riots, Daisy Nation's educational persistence, scholarship availability, and Mr. Chance's generosity. Today, she is a therapist and a successful writer. Use: Gladwell indicates that without the opportunities Joyce was provided with, she wouldn't be successful. Gladwell uses the story of Joyce to illustrate that although the stories we hear may be based on fact, they often leave out integral truths, including opportunity, legacy, history, and community.

ch. 4 section 1 - Langan's Backstory

Chris Langan's mother had four husbands: her first husband died in Mexico, the second was murdered, the third committed suicide, and the fourth was an abusive alcoholic. their family was very poor growing up, only having one set of torn clothes and being mistreated by Jack Langan (which eventually he stood up to). when he went to Reed College in Oregon, he felt he did not fit in with the city dwellers. because his mom forgot to fill out a statement for his scholarship renewal, Chris lost his scholarship, dropped out before his final exams, and went back to attend Montana State University. After the transmission fell out of his car, the school staff denied his requests to move his morning classes to the afternoon, so he dropped out of college, irritated at the higher-education system. He worked in factories, civil service, and in bars, all while reading academic books and developing his Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe, even though he didn't have enough education for its publication. When asked if he would accept a job at Harvard, Langan replied that it would be a good source of intellectual energy, but the administration is instead motivated by making profit instead of intellectual discoveries, and so he would have a lack of intellectual freedom.

ch. 9 section 4

David Levin, one of the founders of the first KIPP school, describes the rigorous schedule. During the week, students attend class from 7:25 a.m. to 5 p.m. and have afterschool activities until 7 p.m. School on Saturdays is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. During July, there are three weeks of school, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., to avoid the 3 month summer vacation and the subsequent achievement gap. Although the longer days can make kids restless, they permit teachers to take longer to explain concepts and give students more time to digest the information, just like Renee did in Schoenfeld's study. One of the math teachers states that standard math education in America is so rapid-fire that only students who understand concepts quickly succeed.

Bill Gates (chapter 2)

Definition: A computer programmer who dropped out of Harvard and founded Microsoft. Use: Gladwell describes the opportunities Gates obtained to accumulate his 10,000hrs, including going to a high school with a time-sharing terminal, working for C-Cubed, ISI, and TRW, and practicing at the University of Washington. Gladwell uses Bill Gates to convey how special opportunities to accumulate hours of hard work directly influence success.

Bill Joy (chapter 2)

Definition: A computer programmer who obtained programming experience by practicing in the University of Michigan's Computer Center. Use: Gladwell explains how Joy was able to program at a time when time-sharing systems were not widespread at all, the Computer Center was open 24hrs, and a bug in the system allowed for him to gain 10,000 hours of practice. Gladwell uses Bill Joy to convey how special opportunities to accumulate hours of hard work directly influence success.

Louis and Regina Borgenicht (chapter 5)

Definition: A couple who immigrated to the US in 1889 and started making + selling girls' aprons, eventually hiring new workers, making other products, and starting a factory. Use: Gladwell explains how the Borgenichts' work included autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward, making their endeavors satisfying and fulfilling. Gladwell uses the Borgenichts to demonstrate that the level of meaningfulness of one's work influences the success achieved.

Louis Terman and the Termites (chapter 3)

Definition: A group of (originally) elementary schoolers with very high IQs whom Terman observed carefully and measured the success of. In the end of his study, 20% were in the top (A) group, 60% in B group, and 20% in C group. Use: Gladwell reveals that IQ only has an advantage up till a certain threshold, and instead, social class determined where the Termites ended up. Gladwell uses the Termites to prove that many factors of success include a threshold past which said factor does not provide any real-world benefit.

Medicine Hat and other Canadian Hockey Teams (chapter 1)

Definition: A hockey team in the Canadian Hockey League (finest junior hockey league in the world). Use: Gladwell lists the hockey players' birthdays, demonstrating that many more were born in the first half of the year because of increased physical maturity when young. Gladwell uses the Canadian Hockey teams to prove that birth dates and cutoffs are an important influence on success.

Chris Langan (chapters 3-4)

Definition: A man with an IQ of 195, often regarded as the smartest man in America. He went to Reed College but lost his scholarship, then his car broke down while at Montana State University and the staff refused to change his class timings. Use: Gladwell explains how Chris Langan, despite his high IQ, did not become successful for his intellectual achievements because of his lack of practical intelligence, a skill that helps one customize their environment to suit their own needs. Gladwell uses Langan to demonstrate that the environment one grew up in (lower class, w/o being taught entitlement) has an impact on one's level of achievement.

The Beatles (chapter 2)

Definition: A rock band that was invited to play in Hamburg, Germany in their high school years. Use: Gladwell describes how the band played for 8 hours every day in Hamburg, allowing them to obtain a large amount of experience. Gladwell uses The Beatles to convey how special opportunities to accumulate hours of hard work directly influence success.

Joe Flom (chapter 5)

Definition: Jewish lawyer who was rejected from white-shoe law firms and started a law firm with 3 coworkers. Their law firm became skilled at litigation and proxy fights, which became useful when corporate takeovers increased in the 1970s, helping Flom achieve success. Use: Gladwell describes how Flom's religion, demographic luck (born in a smaller generation- demographic trough), and family history (parents did meaningful work in the garment industry) brought about his success. Gladwell uses Flom to demonstrate the importance of culture, generation and family history.

Daisy Nation (epilogue)

Definition: Malcolm Gladwell's grandmother, who had the energy and ambition to send her kids to St. Hilda's and college, unlike her husband, who failed to see the importance of a good education. Use: Gladwell demonstrates that without his grandmother's persistence towards education, his mother would not have been as successful as she was. Gladwell uses Daisy Nation to prove that success is dependent on opportunities and advantages.

J. Robert Oppenheimer (chapter 4)

Definition: Physicist who headed the American effort to develop the nuclear bomb in WWII. He was extremely curious and intelligent growing up and went to Harvard + Cambridge, but grew emotionally unstable due to depression and attempted to poison his tutor. However, he was put on probation and went to see a psychiatrist. Use: Gladwell expresses how Oppenheimer's practical intelligence enabled him to avoid punishment at Cambridge and convince the Manhattan Project's director to hire him. Gladwell uses Oppenheimer to assert that one's upbringing changes the types of social skills one develops, influencing one's level of success.

ch. 7 section 10 - Hofstede's Dimensions and Klotz's PDI

Geert Hofstede, a Dutch psychologist, traveled the world and interviewed employees from different cultures to develop a database that analyzes cultural differences. "Hofstede's Dimensions" rate countries using various measurement scales, such as "individualism-collectivism" (how much cultures expect individuals to look after themselves) and "uncertainty avoidance" (how well cultures tolerate ambiguity). Hofstede's findings support the conclusions of Nisbett and Cohen's hallway experiment: the community we grow up in passes down tendencies, assumptions, and reflexes. For instance, Belgium and Denmark look alike, but Belgium has a very high uncertainty avoidance, while Denmark is the opposite. Power Distance Index (PDI), one of the scales most relevant to plane crashes, indicates how likely individuals from a given country are to push back against authority. The United States' PDI is very low, while Colombia's is very high. (A "low" PDI means more likely to push back against authority while a "high" PDI means less likely.) On Avianca flight 052, an American copilot would probably have been much more likely to argue with ATC or even the pilot due to the low PDI. The Colombian copilot (high PDI) was less likely to assume the burden of resolving the crisis, and more likely to adopt the role of subordinate in speaking with the controller. Klotz's mitigated, cultural phrasing made ATC think that there was no serious problem. Klotz sees himself as a subordinate, and believes it's not his job but the captain's job to fix the crisis. In fact, Klotz thought ATC was angry at him because of their snappiness. At the time of the Kennedy crash, Avianca had had 3 other crashes where the airplanes were in perfect condition and the air crew didn't have physical limitations- Barranquilla, Cucuta, and Madrid. In the Madrid crash, the copilot did not want to upset the captain and mitigated, only implying suggestions that the captain ignored. Colombia does not even have the highest PDI, and the second country with the highest PDI is none other than South Korea.

-- chapter 8: rice paddies and math tests --

Gladwell begins by describing how tending rice paddies is a complicated project that requires constant vigilance and hard work. To have a successful rice paddy, you have to rise before dawn and work hard all day, every day. The amount of work and diligence you put into the paddy directly affects how successful it will be. In contrast, many Western farmers learned to use large farm machinery to reduce their work. But in China and other Asian countries, the rice paddies are so small and on steep mountainsides that would not accommodate such machinery. The result is that rice paddies still require hard, personalized, individualized manual labor to thrive. Gladwell begins discussing how English has words for numbers that take longer to say and are less logical than the words for these numbers in Asian languages. For example, we say "seven" for 7, whereas in Chinese, 7 is pronounced "qi." Because they can say numbers faster, they are able to remember larger blocks of numbers. Additionally, when counting higher, the Chinese use a more logical system than we do, saying "ten-one" instead of "eleven" for 11 and building from there. The end result of both of these factors is that it is easier to remember and learn numbers in Chinese. As a result, young Chinese children can count up to much higher numbers than can young American children, and doing math problems is much easier for them. Gladwell puts together these two seemingly random facts to explain how Asian countries always outperform Western countries in math. Gladwell asserts that part of the reason is the combination of hard work and persistence that is ingrained into Asian cultures from rice paddy work, and part is from the language advantages they have in their numbering systems. To show the impact of persistence, he tells the story of a woman named Renee who was taped trying to solve a math problem on a computer; he describes how she persisted for a very long time until she got the answer right. Most Western students do not have that sort of persistence. Gladwell cites a test administered worldwide and how the results show Asian countries answer the most questions—they try the hardest for the longest amount of time. They also perform the highest on the math portions. The connection is purely cultural. Because of their heritage and language, Asians have the advantage over Western cultures in math. When considering success, we cannot leave heritage out of the equation.

-- chapter 9: marita's bargain --

Gladwell briefly introduces KIPP Academies, privately owned schools started in the 1990s to help lower-income families give their children advantages they needed to succeed. KIPP students have a rigorous schedule and study regime; as a result, they perform better and often receive scholarships and opportunities that students from regular public schools do not. Then Gladwell gives a brief history of the general philosophy of education in America, which in its beginnings centered around two main elements: the harvest season and not overstraining children by pushing them too far. The harvest season influenced the current 9-month school year, with a long, extended break. That break used to be necessary for families because their children were needed to help with the harvest. However, even though that need has diminished in the country, we still follow that model, and it has a negative impact on students' education. Over the summer, many children struggle to retain what they learned the previous year. Gladwell gives some statistics on testing that indicate that when students first start school, income levels and social classes do not have much of an impact on their results. However, as the years pass, assessments at the beginning of the school year show lower-income students performing worse and worse each time. When researchers looked into the situation, they discovered that if students have access to books, reading, summer programs and camps, and other academic resources through the summer, they tend to retain what they learned better. They found that many lower-income students did not read because they did not have access to books or it was not a fostered activity in the home. So they consistently fell further and further behind. Gladwell ties this back to the KIPP Academy. The students that attend these schools are chosen by lottery and put into the schools on a very long, difficult schedule. They go to school longer each day and year than do most American students. They do more rigorous activities and have hours of homework each night. Gladwell describes this schedule through the life of one student, Marita, who is so busy that she wakes at 5 a.m. to get to school and works on schoolwork until 11 each night. Many of these children came from homes where their parents were never home because they worked multiple jobs; when placed in a situation where they receive nurturance and stimulation, they thrive and do very well. Gladwell's point is that it is unfortunate that one's academic success can be impacted so strongly by social class, but he points to KIPP as an example that these students can perform if given the right circumstances.

ch. 4 section 2 - Oppenheimer's Upbringing + Langan's shortcomings

Gladwell states that Langan's experiences are odd, because most (small liberal arts) colleges accomodate student needs and some college professors take positions at Harvard (instead of private sector) precisely for added intellectual freedom. Oppenheimer was a smart kid growing up just like Langan, but when he was pursuing a doctorate in physics at Harvard/Cambridge, he struggled with depression and tried to poison his tutor, and got put on probation (a much lighter punishment than what Langan received!). Oppenheimer seemed very unfit for heading the Manhattan Project, being 38, a theoretical physicist, having dodgy political affiliations and no administrative experience. However, he possessed the savvy to convince Leslie Groves, saying that he understood that building an atomic bomb required practical solutions to many different problems. Langan lacks this ability to persuade people. His calculus professor at Montana State University refused to change his style of teaching, telling him that not everyone can be a mathematician and not realizing that Langan was good at calculus.

-- chapter 6: harlan, kentucky --

Gladwell describes a feud that occurred between two Appalachian families in the late 1800s in Kentucky. The Howard and Turner families fought a bitter feud in which many people ended up dying. At the same time in other locations in the Appalachians, similar family feuds were breaking out. There was an epidemic of Appalachian family feuds, some lasting for decades. The area became infamous for the feuding, and outside help was often brought in to stop the chaos. The explanation for this behavior is tied back to something called "the culture of honor." Many of these families came from Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England—places that relied on raising and herding animals. Theft of sheep and cattle was common. Because of their fierce drive to protect their animals and right the wrongs caused by thieving, a culture of honor was born; injustice was fought through revenge to maintain one's honor and send a message that you are not to be stolen from. These herdsmen moved to Appalachia, where they continued to herd livestock in the fertile mountains of America, and so their culture of honor continued. When someone tried to steal their animals, they retaliated with revenge and honor killings. These men's behavior was outside the norm—they were outliers—and can be explained through their cultural background and how they earned a living. Gladwell then describes a psychological study conducted in the 1990s that would have college students walk down a tight hallway where a passerby would bump into them and call them a name. The psychologists were interested in measuring how these students would respond to the insult; they measured heart rate, perspiration, salivation, blood pressure, and other indicators of rage and stress. Interestingly, students from southern states reacted to the insult with more aggression, hostility, and anger than did those who were form northern states. It was concluded that even though sheepherding and thieving livestock was no longer a part of southern culture, the descendants of those feuding families were still predisposed to react to slights in honor with greater offense than were northerners. Even though this chapter does not describe a success story, Gladwell asserts that we need to take cultural and ancestral history more seriously in analyzing why some people are more successful than others are. This concept comes into play more thoroughly in the following chapters.

-- chapter 7: the ethnic theory of plane crashes --

Gladwell describes in great detail Korean Air Flight 801's plane crash that occurred in 1997, killing most of its passengers. This was just one of many crashes Korean Airlines experienced; in fact, the airline was so bad that they were denounced by countries and organizations. However, they turned themselves around and were eventually able to rebound into success. Gladwell outlines some of the things that helped them succeed. To explain, Gladwell uses the 1990 crash of Colombian airliner Avianca, Flight 052. In this crash, the copilot was very passive and used a lot of mitigating speech patterns to downplay his own opinions. In the end, that was dangerous because the pilot and air-traffic controllers did not take his suggestions seriously, and the crash occurred. He used this mitigating language because of the captain-to-copilot dynamic: the captain is the expert, and challenging or questioning him is uncomfortable and potentially humiliating. Psychologists studied this communication pattern, and the results led airlines to work on training their pilots and copilots to communicate more effectively. However, in all of their attempts, understanding the power of one's culture was extremely helpful. In the Colombian crash of 1990, the copilot, Mauricio Klotz, was Colombian. This is significant because a cultural study conducted by Geert Hofstede revealed that Colombians have a high power-distance ratio, meaning that they respect powerful figures and rarely contradict or stand up to them. This played a significant role in explaining why Klotz did not stand up to his pilot and more effectively communicate to him the danger they were in. He also did not clearly reveal their emergency to the air-traffic controllers, who at the time were completely unaware of how serious their situation was. Also in play was the culture of America. America has a low power-distance ratio; as a result, New York City air-traffic controllers can seem pushy and rude, which intimidated the submissive Klotz; this also led to his unclear communication of the emergency. This finding of cultural significance played a large role in Korean Airlines' turnaround. Their captains are from a culture with a high power-distance ratio, so they were retrained to be more assertive in the cockpit. They were trained to set aside their cultural standards of communication in the airplane and to believe that confronting a pilot is not offensive. Because of this change in their mindset, the airline was able to reduce its accidents and regain its success. The conclusion Gladwell makes here is that cultural heritage is a powerful factor in why some people and organizations succeed and others do not.

ch. 7 section 1 - Korean Air Flight 801

Gladwell describes the 1997 crash of Korean Air Flight 801. The pilot was in good health and experienced (8900hrs), having previously been in the Korean Air Force. The aircraft, a Boeing 747, was in perfect working order. As the flight approached Guam (an airport he had landed at before), the Ground Proximity Warning System alerted the pilot that the plane was within five hundred feet of the ground. Unable to see the runway in the rain, the first officer suggested aborting the landing and circling around for another attempt. The captain, however, was slow to respond. Before the plane could recover altitude, it hit the side of nearby Nimitz Hill, killing 228 of the 254 passengers.

-- chapter 4: the trouble with geniuses, part 2 --

Gladwell describes the background of Chris Langan, who has an IQ of 195 and is considered the smartest man in America. Chris grew up incredibly poor with a working mother and a drunken father. When he went to college, he dropped out. Since then, he has not achieved success in traditional terms. Gladwell contrasts this with Robert Oppenheimer, one of the crucial designers of the nuclear bomb; he, too, was brilliant, but he came from a wealthy family, had a degree from Harvard, and was very successful. Gladwell contrasts Langan with Oppenheimer to ask what was the critical difference between these two geniuses? Part of the answer came in Chapter 3, where Gladwell discussed the "threshold effect" of intelligence: intelligence has a threshold; after that, real-life skills need to kick into gear to help someone succeed. Langan was poorly equipped with those real-world skills, whereas Oppenheimer had the tools necessary to succeed. Gladwell asks why that was. Gladwell summarizes an interesting study done by a sociologist named Annette Lareau, who followed third graders around in their home settings, analyzing the different parenting styles exhibited. Her conclusions were quite simple: there were only two parenting styles, and the difference between them was explained only in terms of the income levels of the parents. Parents who were upper middle class and wealthy demonstrated a "concerted cultivation" style in which they felt it was their job to help foster, develop, and aid their children's talents and success. They also emphasized their children's independence and helped them navigate real-world situations. On the other hand, lower classes tended to exhibit a parenting style Lareau called "accomplishment of natural growth" in which they were hands-off and had the attitude that their children would grow and develop naturally on their own. They did not teach their children how to take initiative and get what they wanted in the world. That difference in parenting styles seems to explain the differences between Langan and Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer came from a wealthy family who supported all his activities; Langan did not. Gladwell goes back to the Terman study he referred to previously. Of all of the genius students Terman studied, there was only one determining factor in whether their intelligence would equate to real-world success: their socioeconomic upbringing. Gladwell concludes that when looking at successful people, we can attribute their success to sheer genius and luck all we want; however, leaving out their background and upbringing paints an incomplete picture.

ch. 9 section 1

Gladwell discusses the formation of the KIPP school in the South Bronx, NYC in the 1990s. This middle school serves almost entirely minority students (chosen by lottery), of which three-quarters are from single-parent homes and 90 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch. However, KIPP's students are very well-behaved (SSLANT), and many go to college. After ten years of operation, KIPP is one of the most desirable schools in New York City: by the end of eighth grade, 84 percent of students are at or above grade level in mathematics. More than fifty KIPP schools have opened across the United States.

ch. 7 section 13 - Greenberg and Korean Air's Comeback

In 2000, Korean Air brought in David Greenberg, from Delta Air Lines, to run their flight operations. He required all Korean Air pilots to be, or become, fluent in English, the international language of air traffic control. Speaking English also made it easier for the flight crews to free themselves from the cultural legacy that limited their ability to confront one another. Greenberg also started a freight airline called Cargo 360, and he took many of Korean Air's long-time pilots, allowing them the opportunity to change their speaking style. Gladwell asserts that clearly acknowledging strengths and weaknesses in different cultures should not be difficult.

ch. 6 section 3 - Cohen and Nesbitt's Hallway Study

In the 1990s, University of Michigan psychologists Dov Cohen and Richard Nesbitt conducted an experiment on the culture of honor to discover its impacts on modern generations. Students were asked to fill out a questionnaire and turn it in at the end of a long, narrow hallway. The control group filled out the questionnaire and left, but students in the other group were blocked by an individual looking through file drawers. When a student tried to pass, the individual (who was part of the experiment) would bump the student with his shoulder and mutter, "Azzhole." Following the encounter, the experimenters gauged the firmness of the students' handshakes, measured their levels of cortisol and testosterone, and recorded their reactions to an incomplete story about a male student trying to kiss another male student's girlfriend. Cohen and Nesbitt found out that the key variable in how strongly students reacted to being blocked and insulted in the hallway was geographic in origin. The ones with the strongest reactions were predominantly from the South. Some also passed a large man while leaving, and although the Northerners would stand aside six feet before encountering the man, the enraged Southerners would only stand aside two feet before.

ch. 7 section 6 - Klotz's Lack of Urgency

In the Avianca 052 flight transcript, right after the aborted first landing attempt, the captain asks the copilot where the runway is, to no reply for half a minute. He orders the copilot to tell ATC that they are in an emergency. The copilot calmly informs ATC of a change in heading and adds the information about fuel almost as an afterthought, saying nothing about an emergency. All planes are running out of fuel by the end of their flight, and he did not stress the urgency of the situation. An air traffic controller who handled the flight remarked on a lack of urgency in his voice.

ch. 7 section 2 - Korean Air's Comeback

In the twenty years prior to that crash, Korean Air lost at least six other planes. Compared to United Airlines, from 1988 to 1998, the loss rate for Korean Air was seventeen times higher 4 per mil compared to .27 per mil). In April of 1999, Delta Air Lines and Air France suspended their partnership with Korean Air over safety concerns. But shortly after, Korean Air's record changed completely. Since 1999, they have had a spotless safety record. Gladwell states that understanding the crash of Flight 801 requires a look at flight records, weather patterns, and the conversation captured by the cockpit voice recorder. What saved Korean Air, according to Gladwell, was a willingness to reckon with a cultural legacy.

ch. 5 section 9 - Jewish Immigrants and their Benefit to America's Economy

Jewish immigrants were different than others in that they had been forbidden to own land in Eastern Europe, so they lived in cities and took up urban profession, many of them specializing in making clothes. Borgenicht worked in clothesmaking for Epstein and in a store called Brandstatter's. Later, he and Regina opened piece-goods stores and learned how to run a business well. Jews in New York arrived at the perfect time to put their clothesmaking talents to use, making New York City the most prominent city in clothing manufacture in the world and almost fully controlling the garment industry.

ch. 5 section 1 - Joe Flom's Background

Joe Flom is the last living named partner of the prestigious law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom. The son of Jewish immigrants, he grew up extremely poor in the Great Depression, moving frequently. He went to the Townsend Harris high school, did night school at City College, and served in the army. After attending Harvard Law School and being named to the Law Review (an honor reserved for the top students), he had difficulty finding a job but was finally hired as an associate by Marshall Skadden and Leslie Arps at a risky firm. In 1954, after Flom took over as managing partner, the firm began to grow quickly. It now has nearly two thousand lawyers, in twenty-three offices around the world.

ch. 9 section 3

Karl Alexander, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, studied the performance of first-grade public school students in Baltimore on the California Achievement Test. Comparing test scores at the end of a school year to results from the following fall, he discovered that during the school year, students of every socioeconomic background make similar progress, but over the summer, students from the poorest homes either regress or remain stagnant, while students from middle-class and affluent families make more progress (this causes the "achievement gap"). Schools are not failing underprivileged students—it is the lack of learning when they are not in school. Gladwell relates this back to Annette Lareau's family study, where Alex Williams was encouraged to develop his skills, while Katie Brindle's family did not take such actions.

ch. 5 section 5 - Demographic Luck with Maurice and Mort Janklow

Lesson Number Two: Demographic Luck. Maurice Janklow, the eldest son of Jewish immigrants, started law school in 1919. He lived an elegant life and even took over a writing-paper business that seemed very promising. While he was intelligent and well educated, and his family was fairly successful, he did not meet with notable success. His son, Mort Janklow, however, was very successful. After selling an early cable television franchise, Mort Janklow created one of the most prestigious literary agencies in the world. Gladwell proposes that the difference in success between the two generations of Janklows is a function of the different eras.

ch. 5 section 3 - Alexander Bickel and Old-Line Law Firms

Like Flom, Alexander Bickel (one of Flom's classmates) was also the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and went to Manhattan to find a job in 1947. He was interviewed for a job at Mudge Rose Law Firm, but the senior partner said he couldn't hire Bickel due to his immigrant background, even though Bickel was highly qualified, having written books and argued a case before the Supreme Court. At that time, the old-line law firms were very exclusive, requiring lawyers to have family connections, a pleasing personality, and are graduates of the top Ivy schools. Because Flom and Bickel did not meet these requirements, they ended up joining smaller, second-rate, upstart law firms, which ended up being a golden opportunity.

ch. 5 section 10 - Expansion of the Borgenichts' Business (employees, products, buying process) and Louis's Fulfillment

Louis Borgenicht used the money from the first 40 aprons to buy enough cloth to make 120 aprons, which sold out in two days. He and Regina hired employees and purchased more sewing machines, and by 1892, they had twenty people working for them. By 1913, New York was home to approximately 16,000 garment manufacturing businesses just like Borgenicht's. Louis eventually started making girls' dresses as well, trying to create a product that was affordable and popular, since there was little competition. In order to make more profit, he got Lawrence and Company (a wholesaler) to sell directly to him to eliminate the middle man. As Louis was expanding his business, he was learning manufacturing, market research, and negotiation skills. This was excellent training for advancement, compared to the limited knowledge most (Irish and Italian) immigrants at the time could acquire working as day laborers and the limited knowledge Mexican immigrants in California obtained as field workers. While Borgenicht's work was very difficult, he also had a job that supplied "autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward"—the most important qualities to make work satisfying. He was his own boss, and his meaningful work fulfilled him, much like the hours Bill Gates spent programming or the Beatles spent in Hamburg. It was also very impactful for the children that grew up in homes where their parents engaged in meaningful work and taught their children a sense of entitlement.

ch. 5 section 8 - Start of the Borgenichts' Career

Louis and Regina Borgenicht sailed to America in a leap of faith in hopes of creating a better life, and rented an apartment for $8 a month. Louis sought work, selling fish, towels, tablecloths, notebooks, bananas, and socks, all of which were unsuccessful. Then, Louis realized that clothes were one of the only items even poor people could purchase. He took notes of peoples' clothing, searching for a novel item, and after observing a little girl's apron, he and Regina made and sold many aprons the next day.

ch. 7 section 11 - Glide Scope and VOR Beacon

Malcolm Brenner, a leading investigator with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), was part of the team that reviewed the Korean Air 801 crash. A glide scope outage at the airport made the landing insignificantly more difficult, and so the crew needed to land the plane visually. They were also flying into a patch of bad weather a few miles before landing. The pilot used the airport's VOR beacon (a radio beacon used in navigation) to get within visual range. Guam's VOR beacon is located on Nimitz Hill, not at the actual airport, but the pilot knew this and even mentioned it in the preflight briefing. He did not, however, have a backup plan, and as he approached Guam, he was very tired.

-- chapter 3: the trouble with geniuses, part 1 --

Malcom Gladwell describes the incredible genius of Christopher Langan, currently known as the smartest man in America. Langan has an IQ of 195. His genius makes him an outlier because he stands out so much in comparison to the rest of the world. However, has that genius helped Langan be successful in his life? Other than the celebrity it has garnered, has he done well? The interesting thing about Langan is that in traditional terms, he is not very successful. Despite being invited to speak on television and being interviewed a lot, he has not had any publications, has no college degree, and has not impacted the world of academia. He works on a ranch and lives a very low-profile life. Gladwell compares Langan to Einstein, who had an IQ of 130—still in the genius category. Both men were geniuses, but what led one man to succeed and not the other? To answer part of the question, Gladwell summarizes the results of a long-term study done on intelligence by Lewis Terman, a professor of psychology at Stanford University in the early 1900s. He studied close to 1,500 students who had high IQs throughout their lifetimes. The results yield many interesting findings, one being that when it comes to intelligence, there tends to be a threshold; once you get past a certain level of intelligence, it does not really impact your success much. Instead, other factors—particularly creativity, the ability to think in innovative ways, and dealing well with change and unexpected factors—are what help people succeed. To elaborate on what is called "the threshold effect of intelligence" in real life, Gladwell cites a study done of University of Michigan graduates. Through their affirmative action program, the university admits disadvantaged students who do not do as well in college classes and tend to have lower IQs. However, after they graduate and get a job, they are as every bit as successful as are their more privileged counterparts. With Terman's group of gifted students, in the end, only some of them succeeded; others did not. This shows that intelligence is nice, but when it comes to real-world success, intelligence only matters to a certain point. After that, other elements are also needed to help someone succeed. Gladwell reaffirms that even though we put a lot of emphasis on natural talent and genius when it comes to successful people, we often leave out the idea that success comes in part from intelligence and talent and in part from creativity and hard work.

ch. 8 section 6

Many students would have only taken two minutes to solve the question before giving up, but Renee constantly searches for explanations. Schoenfeld gives his students a two-week take-home exam, knowing that students who started early persisted with resolution would have the time that Renee took to figure out the complicated questions.

ch. 9 section 6

Marita's experience is not typical for most twelve-year-olds, and not what most parents would want. Marita has chosen to exchange part of her childhood for a chance at success. Where she used to have friends in the public school system, she now only has friends at KIPP. Ninety percent of KIPP students receive scholarships to private high schools, and 80 percent of KIPP graduates go to college. Gladwell revisits the various cases throughout Outliers: "Outliers are those who have been given opportunities—and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them." Instead of fixating on the myth that only the best and brightest can succeed, society should endeavor to create more opportunities for everyone (2x hockey players).

ch. 7 section 3 - Cause of Plane Crashes and Avianca

Plane crashes are incorrectly portrayed by the media, and are likely to be the result of the accumulation of minor, trivial malfunctions. In many crashes, the weather is poor, the plane is behind schedule, the pilot has been awake for 12+ hrs, and the pilots have never flown together before. Typical accidents involve seven small but cumulative errors of teamwork and communication. The two pilots must operate the airplane cooperatively. Gladwell uses the 1990 crash of the Colombian airliner Avianca's flight 052 from Colombia to NYC as an example quite similar to the crash in Guam 7 years later. The weather was poor, with lots of fog and wind, and the plane had to circle around for over an hour. When landing, the pilot encountered severe wind shear and added power, but then the headwind dropped suddenly. Autopilot malfunctioned, and on the second try, two engines failed and the plane hit an estate. The cause of failure was that the plane ran out of gas.

ch. 9 section 2

Public schools in the United States were heavily reformed in the early nineteenth century. The reformers wanted to ensure that every child in both rural and urban settings had the opportunity to go to school and learn the skills required for productive citizenship. The reformers also believed that students should not get too much schooling, for fear of over-study destroying mental health; effort should be balanced by rest. Thus, the specifically American long summer vacation was instituted. Gladwell points out the similarity to agriculture in America, where fields must lay fallow for stretches of time to stay fertile for cultivation. This is radically different than Asian notions about study and work, because they believed in working w/o rest. The Asian work ethic is congruous with constant cultivation of rice paddy fields, which increased in fertilization with more cultivation.

ch. 7 section 9 - NY ATC

Ratwatte explains that New York controllers handle a high traffic volume under stressful conditions and often come off as rude. They will snap at flight crews, expecting that in an emergency, the flight crews will snap back. For example, the pilots in a British Airways flight were being snapped at, so they said that NY ATC should learn how to control an airplane. The Avianca pilot and copilot were intimidated. They should have clearly stated that they could not comply with the controller's request and needed to land immediately. Ratwatte would also have been blunt with ATC because he knows the right action to take in these circumstances. Gladwell suggests that their failure to do so may have something to do with the fact that both pilots were Colombian, other than Klotz being incompetent and Caviedes being tired.

ch. 8 section 3

Rice paddies are very small compared to Western farms, and while Western farms' yield is increased "mechanically" (introducing equipment), Asian rice paddies were "skill oriented", and farmers improved their yield by managing their time and making better choices. Rice farmers have had to work harder than every other farmer in the premodern world, and not everyone worked hard (ex: !Kung bushmen only work 12-19hrs a week- 1000hrs/yr, 1700s European peasants hibernate). Growing rice requires perfectionism and constant vigilance. There are no vacations. The days are long with no exception. Rice paddy farmers took on side tasks in the dry season, and farmed all day in the wet season; And the harder a farmer works to optimize his rice paddy, the more rice that paddy will produce. Some estimate that the average workload of a wet-rice farmer in Asia is three thousand hours a year.

ch. 8 section 4

Rice paddy farming, like the garment work previously discussed, is meaningful work, even though it is tedious and laborious. It is complex work, effort is directly linked to reward, and it's autonomous. In order to be a rice farmer, you have to care deeply about your work. Chinese peasant proverbs underscore this fact: proverbial wisdom in Chinese history repeatedly comes back around to the idea that hard work leads to a better life, that persistence is key, and that sacrifice is necessary. Compare this with feudal Russian proverbs: "If God does not bring it, the earth will not give it." In Western universities, Asians have a reputation for working harder than their peers, just like Bill Joy, Bill Gates, the Beatles, and Joe Flom.

ch. 4 section 3 - Practical Intelligence and Success Based on Upbringing

Robert Sternberg calls the ability to persuade and knowing what words to say for maximum effect "practical intelligence", and it is separated from the intelligence measured by IQ (analytical intelligence). While analytical intelligence is partially heritable, practical intelligence is learned. Annette Lareau conducted a study focusing on 12 families and discovered 2 distinct parenting styles divided among class lines. The wealthier parents would *actively foster and assess their children's talents, opinions, and skills*, involving them in all sorts of extracurriculars (concerted cultivation). By contrast, the poorer parents had a lack of interest in their children's freetime, and *saw it as their responsibility to care for their children but to let them grow and develop on their own* (accomplishment of natural growth). Children raised with concerted cultivation learned a sense of entitlement, or the right to pursue their preferences, manage institutional interactions, and customize their environment to their own purposes. One of the children Lareau studied, Alex, readily asked his doctor questions regarding his height percentile and bumps on his underarm, while a working-class child would be submissive and quiet. Concerted cultivation is an attitude that will ultimately help one succeed in the modern world.

ch. 1 section 3- the pattern in canadian hockey

Roger Barnsley and his wife observe that in any elite group of hockey players... 40% jan-mar bdays 30% apr-june bdays 20% july-sept bdays 10% oct-dec bdays

ch. 1 section 6- scott wasden

Scott's father Gord Wasden describes how Scott worked hard to achieve success, but has had the advantage of being big compared to others due to his Jan 4 bday

ch. 7 section 4 - Ratwatte and the Causes of the Avianca Crash

Suren Ratwatte, an experienced pilot and an expert on the role of "human factors" in crashes, notes Avianca's crash conditions: bad weather, delayed flights, the hour of circling at very low altitudes (burning lots more fuel than at high altitudes), the fact that Boeing 707s are difficult to maneuver, and that the Avianca pilot was tired and could have asked to be rerouted. The pilot (Caviedes) was asking directions to be translated/repeated, didn't pay attention to the proximity system, and didn't circle back around immediately after aborting the landing. The copilot (Klotz) is almost entirely absent from the cockpit transcript, despite being responsible for all communication with Air Traffic Control (ATC). He does tell ATC that he thinks the plane is low on fuel, but apparently, he and the pilot mistakenly interpret the ATC reply that they are "Cleared to the Kennedy airport" to mean that they are moved to the front of the landing queue, when in fact they are merely added to it.

ch. 4 section 5 - Terman's Study, Analyzed using Class Differences

Terman looked at the three groups of Termites at adulthood ranked by career success, and found that while the A's (20%) came from middle and upper class families, many of the C's (20%) had dropout parents. Terman visited the A's and C's, finding that the A's possessed entitlement, and were more poised, well-dressed, and alert. The only thing the C's lacked was an environment that prepared them properly for the real world.

ch. 6 section 2 - Other Feuds and the "Culture of Honor"

The Howards and Turners were not the only families killing one another in Appalachia. The Hatfields-McCoy feud, the French-Eversole feud (12 killed, half by "Bad Tom" Smith), and the Martin-Tolliver feud, which ended with one hundred fighting a two-hour gun battle. Over a fifty-year period, there were one thousand murder indictments in a circuit court clerk's office for a single Cumberland Plateau town, which had a low population as well. An example of this is in a murder trial in Breathitt County, where the defendant's father ended court and the defendant was ambushed later. This pattern is due to a "culture of honor", where one's reputation is the center of their livelihood and self-worth. They appear in unfertile regions because although farmers would need to work together, livestock herders are at risk of their livestock being stolen, and so they learn to be aggressive and follow through with threats. Much of Appalachia was settled by Scotch-Irish immigrants, herdsmen from a violent region who placed loyalty to their blood over all else and reproduced their culture in America. They thrived in this remote, lawless land, encouraging other ethnic groups to copy this lifestyle. In such a culture, murder rates are higher and oftentimes both the killer and the victim understand the reason for murder, but crimes of property and muggings are lower. A newspaperman tells the story of a man who killed and wounded 3 others due to being joked about, although only one judge voted him as guilty, because they understood that in this culture of honor, shooting someone is an appropriate response to an insult. Gladwell restates that in order to understand what caused these feuds, you'd have to examine past generations and their lifestyles.

ch.2 section 5

The Mothers' Club at Bill Gates' middle school put $3,000 towards installing a time-sharing terminal (no card system). Then, the Lakeside Computer club was given the opportunity to test out C-Cubed's programs in exchange for free programming time. Gates then programmed at the University of Washington (3-6am), and the ISI gave them free computer time in exchange for creating software for them. Next, Gates was brought to code for the Bonneville Power station, set up by an ISI founder. AFTER being given all of these opportunities, Gates dropped out of Harvard and started Microsoft, when he was well past 10,000 hours.

ch. 8 section 7

The TIMMS test is given to elementary and middle school students in order to compare countries' educational achievement. Students also have to fill out a very long questionnaire that does not include trivial questions at all. Erling Boe of UPenn accidentally discovered that countries whose students answer more questions on the questionnaire are the same countries whose students solve math problems the best. This means that mathematical ability can be assessed solely on persistence and doggedness. Singapore, SK, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan score the highest on both these scales, and they are all cultures shaped by rice paddy agriculture.

ch. 7 section 7 - Mitigated Speech and Fisher + Judith's Weather Study | Potomac River Crash | Ratwatte's Approach

The copilot used what linguists call "mitigated speech"—polite, sugarcoated and deferential. Two linguists, Ute Fischer and Judith Orasanu, used a hypothetical scenario in which a pilot would have to avoid a patch of bad weather 25 miles away, and recorded the responses of captains and first officers. They identified six different levels of mitigated speech between airplane crew members, [command (no mitigation), crew obligation statement, crew suggestion, query, preference, hint (no suggested course of action)]. Fischer and Orasanu found that captains regularly used commands when addressing their copilots, but copilots often spoke in hints to pilots, their bosses. In another transcript from a 1982 crash, the copilot mentions three times that the wings are covered in ice, but his speech is all hints. The pilot ignores the information and takes off. The plane plunges into the Potomac River moments later. Crashes are far more likely to happen when the captain is flying the plane, so planes are safer when the copilot is flying (regardless of the captain having more flying experience). Since the late 1990s, great efforts have been made to combat mitigation in commercial aviation. Subordinate crew members are even given scripted statements to use, like: "Captain, I'm concerned about..." or "Captain, I'm uncomfortable with...." Reduced mitigation is the main reason for the decrease in airline accidents in recent years. Ratwatte's airline requires the copilot and captain to call each other by their first names to facilitate communication. He also encourages his copilots to speak up if they believe something is wrong.

ch. 5 section 4 - Work of Old-Line Law Firms vs Second-Line Law firms + the Golden Opportunity

The job of old-line law firms were to settle disputes in the conference room, including securities work or tax, and they did not touch litigation and hostile corporate takeovers (were considered scandalous before 1970s unless target agreed to be bought). The work that old law firms refused to do was instead done by the second-rate Jewish lawyers, including litigation and proxy fights - legal maneuvers done at the hostile takeover bid. Flom was exceptionally good at winning these bids, and would even get called in by white-shoe law firms for advice. In the 1970s, federal regulations were relaxed and investors became more aggressive, increasing the number of hostile takeovers. The amount of money involved in mergers and acquisitions every year on Wall Street had increased 2,000%. Because second-tier law firms were experts in litigation and takeovers, people like Flom grew very wealthy due to that skill they had been working on for years.

ch. 7 section 5 - Ratwatte and Communication in the Cockpit

The relative silence in the Avianca cockpit is unusual, and Rattwatte explains this by describing his experience landing due to an emergency in Helsinki. A passenger was having a seizure and needed medical help, and her husband did not speak English. Rattwatte decided against landing in Moscow, afraid of what would happen to them. Hi plane was over maximum landing weight due to fuel, and he was unfamiliar with the airport, but he decided to land manually anyway, weighing the risk of the woman's life against damage to the plane. While preparing to land, Ratwatte constantly communicated with Helsinki ATC, his copilots, two doctors aboard the plane, and other members of his flight crew, and they were encouraging and calming as they shared information as clearly as possible with each other. Effective, transparent communication is required for a safe landing in difficult circumstances, which the pilots on Avianca lacked.

ch. 6 section 1 - Harlan and the Feuding Family

The town of Harlan is located in southeastern Kentucky, in a section of the Appalachian Mountains known as the Cumberland Plateau. Before settlement, the plateau was covered with forest, including a variety of trees and animal species (bears, rattlesnakes, mountain lions). It was originally founded in 1819 by immigrants from the British Isles. Harlan County was thinly populated for the first century, and was somewhat isolated from other populations. Throughout the nineteenth century, two Harlan families, the Howards and the Turners, fought regularly, often killing one another. - Wix Howard and "Little Bob" play poker - "Little Bob" shot dead - Turners attacked Howard, Wilse Howard and Will Turner fight, Will Turner shot dead - Wilse shot "Little George" Turner - Howards ambushed Cawoods (Turners' friends)

ch. 5 section 6 - Terman's Study, Analyzed by Era (connected to Maurice + Mort Janklow)

There is another way to break down the data from Terman's genius study: Termites born between 1903 and 1911 versus those born between 1912 and 1917. Far more of Terman's failures are in the first group. Those born in the first group graduated college during the height of the Great Depression and would have had to interrupt their careers if drafted in World War II. The second group graduated college after the worst of the Depression had passed and, if they survived World War II, would have been young enough to pursue careers. The same logic applies to Maurice and Mort Janklow. Maurice Janklow, born in 1902, was put out of work as the work of the solo practitioner disappeared, and he was economically and psychologically crushed by the Depression; later in life, he survived by doing the paperwork for real estate deals.

-- chapter 5: the three lessons of joe flom --

This chapter begins with the background and history of Joe Flom, who is a lawyer at one of the most successful law firms in the nation. To explain elements of Flom's success that might not be as obvious, Gladwell also describes another successful Jewish lawyer—Alexander Bickel. These lawyers have similar stories: they were children of hard-working Jewish immigrants who came into their lawyer status in the 1950s and 1960s at a time when most successful law firms were not hiring Jewish lawyers. Because of this, many had to start firms on their own and take work other firms would not accept. One such type of work dealt with the dismantling of businesses—corporate takeovers. This work often went to Jewish law firms, and with expanding business and weakened regulations in the 1970s, corporate takeovers became much more common. Because the Jewish firms already had a reputation for doing that kind of work, they got even more. The first lesson of Joe Flom is that what started as a disadvantage—being Jewish and receiving work that no other law firms wanted—in the end turned out to be a stepping-stone for success. The second lesson of Joe Flom centers on when exactly Flom was born and how that played a role in his success. During the Great Depression, birth rates dropped to record lows. This means that any children born during that time had certain advantages—smaller class sizes, greater acceptance rates to universities, and more complete access to resources that were developed during the booming 1920s. Also, because there were fewer people available to take jobs, the jobs paid better and the choices were more diverse. Because of this, Joe Flom and many of his colleagues had advantages merely from being born during the Great Depression. Gladwell describes the third lesson of Joe Flom by telling the story of Louis and Regina Borgenicht, Jewish immigrants who came to America looking for the American dream. They tried selling various wares and finally found success selling clothing. That was not coincidental; many Jewish immigrants were trained in making clothing and brought those skills to America right when the population and technology were exploding in such a way that clothing was in high demand. Right then in history, being able to make clothing was one of the most profitable things you could do. As a result, the Borgenichts were successful. They were in the right place at the right time with the right skills for success. Gladwell compares this to Flom—he entered the lawyering arena right when the demand for his skill set was needed. This helped him to succeed. Behind Joe Flom's success—and that of many others like him—lies a heritage that gave him unique opportunities and a birth date during an advantageous historical time. When factoring in what makes people successful, these elements cannot be ignored.

ch. 2 section 4

When the Beatles were still a high school rock band, they were invited to play in strip clubs in Hamburg, Germany, where they played for 8hrs every day. In a year and a half, they had performed for 270 nights, and had performed 1200 times by their first burst of success. They, too, were allowed the opportunity to accumulate hours.

ch. 3 section 2

a Stanford University psychology professor named Lewis Terman (who created the Stanford-Binet IQ test), after finding high IQs in Henry Cowell and others, conducted a study that identified thousands of children in California with high IQ, whom he called the termites. he then tracked their achievements, employment, and health, expecting high achievement from them due to their potential, which the author explains is how many institutions wrongly perceive success (ex: Microsoft, SAT, Google). The termites would not turn out to be "the future elite", as Terman predicted.

nestorian order outline

begins with a powerful, evocative opening (image, anecdote, analogy etc) to appeal to audience + make them more receptive to claim - image returned to in conclusion - best images saved for last to leave reader w/ strong impression 1. introduction begins w/ powerful opening to show topic in action and introduce thesis 2. evidence and analysis x3; save best evidence for last 3. conclusion ends w/ powerful image + returns to opening (full circle)

ch. 1 section 4- why is the distribution of bdays disproportionate? where else is this disproportionate pattern observed?

eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey is Jan 1st, so boys born at the start of the year are more physically mature and are more likely to get chosen for rep squad by the age of 10 this leads to at least 2x more practice + better coaching, creating a higher chance of being selected for higher leagues by 13-14 pattern is the same for American baseball (cutoff July 31), European soccer (Sept 1), education (children born earlier in the year scored 4-12% better on the TIMMS test than the youngest children, so more older children are placed in the advanced stream), and college populations (youngest group underrepresented by >10%)

ch.2 section 6

of the 75 richest people in history, 14 are Americans born between 1831 and 1840 because they were the perfect age to seize opportunities during the 1860s and 1870s, when the American economy underwent a transformation (expansion of railroads, creation of Wall Street). others were either too young to take advantage or too old + had the wrong mindset this timing rule applies to Joy and Gates as well- Popular Electronics ran a cover story in 1975 about the Altair 8800, a $397 microcomputer kit. someone born before 1952 would already have a job with IBM (mainframes) or be married/have a baby. someone born after 1958 would still be in high school. many big pioneers in the modern computer industry, including Bill Gates, Bill Joy, Steve Jobs, and Eric Schmidt (ran a software firm- Novell), were born in 1954 or 1955, as were Joy's three fellow founders at Sun. Steve Jobs grew up around Hewlett-Packard engineers and got spare parts + summer job from Bill Hewlett (more extraordinary opportunities)

ch. 3 section 4

past the threshold of intelligence, other characteristics should begin to matter more. a divergence test asks for different uses for a brick and a blanket, and while a student at a top British high school can list many (comical) uses, another student from the same school w/ a higher IQ lists just a few, basic uses. compared to an IQ test, asking about different uses for a brick might be a better way to identify future Nobel Prize winners.

ch. 3 section 3

the raven IQ test commonly has 8 puzzle pictures w/ 1 fill-in-the-blank, but scientists found out that once an IQ of 120 was achieved, additional points didn't result in any real-world advantage. - the author compares this to height in basketball- once a player is six foot, additional inches do not necessarily make a better basketball player- there is also a threshold. - the same is true for Einstein and Langan- both are smart enough, and Langan isn't necessarily 30% smarter. - the same can be said for nobel prize / american nobel laureates- not all had sky-high IQs and went to the best colleges. they only had to be smart enough to get into a good university. - the university of michigan has a policy of affirmative action, admitting larger numbers of applicants of racial minorities who are less qualified than their peers, which many find troubling. however, the minority students were doing just as well as the white students after graduation. this is because although they weren't as good as the white students, they were above the threshold.

section 1- the canadian hockey system

thousands of canadian boys start playing hockey from a young age; players are sorted into age leagues by their talent, and the best of the best make it to the canadian hockey league, the most competitive junior league in the world